Jailed Iranian Activist Speaks Of Torture And Forced Confessions At Notorious Evin Prison

A jailed Iranian activist has spoken up about torture and forced confessions at the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.

Photo shows Sepideh Qolian, undated. In a letter written inside Evin prison in Tehran, Iran, Sepideh Qolian, a prominent female Iranian activist, revealed how prisoners are tortured to extract confessions. (@sepide_qoliyan/Newsflash)

Sepideh Qolian is a prominent activist who is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for supporting a strike in 2018.

Writing from the notorious prison, she has described how she and other prisoners are treated brutally by their captors.

She also alluded to the current anti-government protests that have swept the country since the death of Mahsa Amini.

In the letter, Qolian wrote: “In the fourth year of my imprisonment I can finally hear the footsteps of liberation from all across Iran.

“The echoes of ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ can be heard even through the thick walls of Evin prison.”

She added that a wing of the prison where she would take exams has been transformed into a “torture and interrogation” building and that forced confessions are then broadcast on state television.

Photo shows Sepideh Qolian, undated. In a letter written inside Evin prison in Tehran, Iran, Sepideh Qolian, a prominent female Iranian activist, revealed how prisoners are tortured to extract confessions. (@sepide_qoliyan/Newsflash)

She added: “The exam room is filled with young boys and girls and the shouts of torturers can be heard.”

She described one scene of torture she witnessed on 28th December, saying: “It’s freezing cold and snowing, near the exit door of the building, a young boy blindfolded and wearing nothing but a thin grey T-shirt is sat in front of an interrogator.

“He’s shaking and pleading: ‘I swear to God I didn’t beat anyone.’ They want him to confess. As I am passing I shout: ‘DO NOT confess,’ and ‘Death to you tyrants.'”

Photo shows Sepideh Qolian, undated. In a letter written inside Evin prison in Tehran, Iran, Sepideh Qolian, a prominent female Iranian activist, revealed how prisoners are tortured to extract confessions. (@sepide_qoliyan/Newsflash)

So far, at least 519 protesters – including 69 children – have been killed and 19,300 arrested, according to the Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA). Thousands have been imprisoned.